Tiger (P)
The Tiger (P) (commonly known as Porsche Tiger, while its official designation was VK 4501) was an unsuccessful German heavy tank prototype that lost against what would become the succesful Tiger I tank. It first appeared in the anime during Episode 10. A bit of history While work on heavy tank designs had already started before the war, only after the Battle of France (and the problems met when facing such heavily-armored opponents like the French Char B1 bis or the Matilda did the German Army decide that it needed a tank capable of outperforming those designs. Subsequently, on May 1941, a request was made for a 45-tonne tank that was to be fitted with a Krupp turret; both the Henschel and Porsche firms submitted redesigns of earlier medium tank proposals (respectively the VK 3001 (H) and the VK 3001 (P)); such projects were expedited after the start of Operation Barbarossa, and the encounter with the well-protected Soviet tanks (such as the KV series) that increased the need for a tank armed with the superlative 88 mm KwK 36 gun capable of defeating them. The Porsche prototype shared many characteristic with its Henschel cousin, notably the armament and the armor protection (100 mm of frontal armor, albeit unsloped), being recognizable thanks to its turret being mounted forwards on the hull. Unfortunately, it relied on a complicated gasoline generator hybrid power unit which proved to be furiously unreliable, requiring constant maintenance to keep on functioning; this, coupled with reduced maneuverability compared to the Henschel prototype, led to the latter being accepted for production as the Tiger heavy tank, and the dropping of the Porsche design, of which only five prototypes were completed (three being later transformed into recovery vehicles). Roughly one hundred of chassis built awaiting an order were later reused to create a new tank destroyer sporting the powerful 88 mm PaK 43/2 gun, which was named first Ferdinand (to honour its designer, Ferdinand Porsche) and later, after modifications, Elefant; this development proved decidedly more successful than the conventional design. Ironically, only one of the few Tiger Porsche prototypes saw brief service as a command tank for an Elefant unit. In Girls und Panzer 'Anime' A Tiger Porsche was found almost incidentally in the innards of Ooarai's ship, turning up when looking for Rabbit Team who had lost the way. Only before the finals the Automotive Club (responsible for maintenance and repair for Ooarai's tanks) capable of fixing it up. During trials, it showed its unreliability by was getting stuck in the mud, having its engine overheat and then blow up all in succession; however, when doubts were raised about its efficiency, Yukari rose to its defense and praised its virtues, especially its 88 mm gun (which she described as 'stellar'), therefore it was duly added to the lineup. The same Automotive Club members who had repaired it became its crew as Leopon Team. Despite being a last-minute addition to their force, the Tiger P performed remarkably well, showing both good resilience to Kuromorimine shots thanks to its thick armor and excellent firepower; it also showed reduced mechanical troubles, only acting up a bit during a chase and being subsequently repaired on the fly by Nakajima which surprised the other team members. It played a critical part in the match, as it blocked (even after being knocked out after a stubborn defense) with its huge shape the only entrance to where both team flag tanks (Miho's and Maho's tanks) were off for a duel, preventing the other Kuromorimine tanks from intervening, thus giving Miho the only chance to win. However without Rabbit Team's disposal of the Elefant and the Jagdtiger, Leopon's Team's last stand would not have lasted that long if they had joint Kuromorimine fire barrage. 'Der Film' Leopon Team's Tiger is seen taking part in the Exihibition match, first assaulting with the rest of the team entrenched St. Gloriana tanks, however after Chi-Ha-Tan's failure and the arrival of Pravda's reinforcements they retreat to the OY line to hold on Pravda tanks while Miho try to get a hit on Darjeeling's tank. The Tiger(P) was shot down by multiple tanks (due to the huge amount of impacts on it's hull) when the OY line was broken by Pravda. It later participates at the fight against Selection University as part of Dandelion Team. It can be seen with other surviving Ooarai tanks when they retreat to the Amusement Park. It scores a hit against a Pershing during retreat after Selection University manage to breakthrough in the Park thanks to the T28 acting as a shield. The Tiger(P) scores another hit on a Pershing on the Western style part of the Park by passing though a building. It last seen provinding a slipstream to the Tiger II and T-34/85 to catch up the Bermuda Trio by overpower its motor which ultimately blow it up. Trivia *The Tiger (P) is listed to have 200 mm of frontal armor in many sources (including World of Tanks). This is because only 5 Tiger (P) were ever produced and only one of these ever saw combat as Command Tank; this lone tank was upgraded Tiger (P) with additional bolt-on frontal plates, thus giving 200 mm of total frontal armor. **The Tiger (P) employed by Ooarai visibly lacks the additional plates, having standard 100 mm of frontal armor instead. *Despite being quite prone to getting damaged, Tsuchiya proved to be able to overdrive the Tiger (P)'s engine, managing to do a "wheelie" (and by so doing destroying the bridge on which it was going). *Except when its engine broke down, the tank requires a huge amount of damage to be taken down. Against Kuromorimine a Tiger II, 2 Panthers, a Jagdpanzer IV and a Jagdpanther unleashed all their firepower to take it down and against St. Gloriana/Pravda when the tank is seen destroyed numbers of impacts can be seen on it's front armor and broken track suggesting that numerous tanks concentrate on it. Gallery Broken down and on fire.jpg|Broken down, overheated, and on fire Leopon engine trouble.jpg|Leopon, engine trouble Leopon rev it up.png|Leopon flooring it TigerP-MuzzleFlash.png|Tiger(P)'s muzzle flash. Porsche tiger, you shall not pass..png|You shall not pass! TigerPMauledAnime.png|Tiger(P) mauled by Kuromorimine TigerPMauledMovie.png|Tiger(P) mauled by Pravda/St. Gloriana Taking down a Pershing.jpg|Taking down a Pershing Leopon roaming.png|Leopon roaming Engine fire.jpg|Engine fire, again More about the Tiger Porsche *Tiger Porsche *VK4501 P in the official anime (Japanese) Category:Tanks Category:German tanks Category:Heavy tanks Category:Ooarai Girls High School